CALGARY — A Canadian woman who was viciously attacked at a Mexican resort has returned home to Calgary, transported from Mazatlan by a private air ambulance company and with her husband travelling at her side, according to the pilot who says he flew the aircraft.

The jet carrying Sheila Nabb, her husband Andrew, a doctor, nurse and a respiratory technician touched down at Calgary International Airport at 8:42 a.m. on Thursday, according to the Hamilton, Ont.-based Latitude Aeromedical Works pilot.

Nabb is now in a local hospital.

The 37-year-old office manager was in “obvious discomfort” during the flight, and had severe facial bruising, but she wasn’t bandaged, the pilot said.

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The air ambulance company was dispatched from Hamilton to Mazatlan Thursday after being contacted by an insurance company.

The medical team assessed Nabb at the Mazatlan hospital where she was recovering, then transported her via ambulance to the aircraft. The flight, which included a brief stop in Denver for fuel, lasted roughly five and a half hours, said the pilot.

“She did well,” he said, noting her spouse “is a real doting kind of husband.”

Similar flights generally cost between $20,000 and $30,000, he said.

A spokeswoman for Latitude said she couldn’t confirm or deny the report the company flew Nabb from Mazatan. She confirmed one of the air ambulance service’s aircraft landed in Calgary Friday morning.

Family members say they’re extremely pleased Nabb is back home. She must undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery.

“It’s great news to find out she’s back in Canada. We’re all relieved,” said her uncle, Robert Prosser.

Nabb’s condition stabilized Thursday, nearly a week after she suffered severe facial injuries in an attack that left her bloodied and unconscious in an elevator at the Hotel Riu Emerald Bay resort in Mazatlan.

Authorities have not questioned Nabb about the beating on the advice of her medical team, which says the Calgary office manager should be allowed more time to recuperate, Oralia Rice, minister of tourism for the Mexican state of Sinaloa, said in an interview conducted on Thursday on behalf of Sinaloa Gov. Mario Lopez Valdez.

Rice said she could provide little information about the investigation, but confirmed police are reviewing surveillance video footage that reveals a man believed responsible for the attack.

Mexican media are reporting authorities say a young man who was a guest at the hotel is the main suspect in the attack. A man about 25-years-old was caught on video surveillance kicking someone in the elevator where Nabb was located.

Noroeste reported Attorney General Marco Antonia Higuera Gomez said a tourist, who is a Canadian citizen, was questioned by police and had injuries on the knuckles of one hand and his chin.

Nabb, whose jaw is wired shut, was due to undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery this week, but the operation was delayed after she contracted pneumonia.

Friends and family back home are rallying around the woman, who is originally from Nova Scotia.

A trust fund set up to help with Nabb’s medical expenses not covered under travel insurance has already topped $10,000.

Nabb, whose jaw is wired shut, was due to undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery this week to repair the broken bones in her face, but the operation was delayed after she contracted pneumonia.

It was previously expected to be several weeks before Nabb would be fit to return to Canada.

Nabb’s attack has again raised concerns about the safety of Canadians traveling in Mexico, but travel agents and tourism officials say the attacks on Canadians are rare and isolated.

So far this year, two Canadians have died in Mexico and five have been assaulted, according to Foreign Affairs.

A retired B.C. mechanic died earlier this month after being shot by robbers. He’d been living in the country for four years.

Although Mexico is embroiled in a fierce drug war — one that has killed nearly 50,000 people — it still doesn’t have the highest homicide rate in the world among popular destination spots, according to the United Nations.

A global study examining data from 1995 to 2010 placed the sunny destinations Guatemala, Belize and Jamaica higher on the list than Mexico.

Most of the violence in Mexico is concentrated along its border with the U.S.

Canadians continue to flock to Mexico for its all-inclusive resorts, sunny beaches and ancient ruins. Roughly 1.6 million Canadians visited Mexico in 2009, and 1.4 million visited in 2009.

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